GRAVES. 



GREASE. 



of 16 or 18 inches, in order to keep the path 

 dry, and prevent weeds from shooting through 

 to the surface. The permanent or earthy ma- 

 nures, adapted to the gravels, are marl, clay, 

 and chalk. See MIXTURE OF SOILS. 



GRAVES, or GREAVES. The waste and 

 refuse of tallow-chandlers after the candles 

 have been made, which is sometimes used as a 

 manure. It consists of the sediment of melted 

 tallow, and is composed of the membranous, 

 vascular, nervous, and muscular matters 

 blended with the fat, and which, not being fusi- 

 ble, are easily separated from it by straining; 

 the graves are made up into hard cakes, and 

 are chiefly used as a coarse food for large 

 house-dogs. 



GRAZIER. A person engaged in the art or 

 business of pasturing or feeding and fattening 

 different kinds of live-stock on grass-land. In 

 order to be capable of managing this business 

 to the greatest advantage, he should have a 

 perfect knowledge of the nature and value of 

 all kinds of live-stock, as well as of the land 

 on which they are to be fed, and of properly 

 suiting them to each other. Upon these being 

 well understood and attended to, his success 

 must depend. According to Mr. Hillyard, a 

 practical grazier, and the well-known president 

 of the Northampton Farming and Grazing So- 

 ciety, " the knowledge requisite to carry on 

 grazing to the most advantage is not easily 

 obtained. A man should know how beasts 

 ought to be formed; should have a quick eye 

 for selecting those with a frame that is likely 

 to produce weight ; and a hand that should feel 

 the known indication of the probability of soon 

 becoming fat." 



The business of grazing is more general in 

 some of the counties of England than in others ; 

 it is for the most part carried on in Somerset- 

 shire, Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, and the 

 midland counties. It is a system of husbandry 

 that can only be profitably practised in districts 

 where the extent of pasture is considerable, or 

 the value of the produce of grass-land small 

 in comparison with that of animals. 



It is well observed, by an author of the last 

 century, that the stocking of land with proper 

 cattle is one of the nicest parts of the science 

 of farming. Where nature is left to herself, 

 she always produces animals suitable to her 

 vegetation, from the smallest sheep on the 

 Welsh mountains to the largest sort in the 

 Lincolnshire marshes; from the little hardy 

 bullock in the northern Highlands to the noble 

 ox in the rich pastures of Somersetshire. But 

 good husbandry admits of our increasing the 

 value of the one in proportion to that of the 

 other. Land improved enables us to keep a 

 better sort of stock. The true wisdom of the 

 occupier is best shown in preserving a due 

 equilibrium between this improvement of his 

 land and stock. They go hand in hand, and 

 if he neglect the one he cannot avail himself 

 of the other. It should, therefore, be first con- 

 sidered what kind of cattle or other stock will 

 answer the purpose best, on the particular 

 description of land upon which they are to be 

 grazed. 



In stocking the ground, as the proportion of 

 cattle must depend upon the nature of the soil, 

 5SO 



it will perhaps be generally found that, local 

 habit, as being usually the result of experience, 

 is the surest guide. In the opinion, however, 

 of the most intelligent graziers, in stocking 

 enclosures, the cattle should be divided in the 

 following manner : Supposing our fields, each 

 containing a nearly equal quantity of land, one 

 of them should be kept entirely free from stock 

 u'ltil the grass is got up to its full growth, when 

 the prime or fatting cattle should be put into it, 

 that they may get the best of the food ; the se- 

 cond best should then follow ; and after them 

 either the working or store stock, with lean 

 sheep to eat the pastures close down ; thus 

 making the whole of the stock feed over the 

 four enclosures in this succession : 



No. 1. Clear of stock, and reserved for the 

 fattening beasts. 



No. 2. For the fattening beasts until sent to 

 No. 1. 



No. 3. For the second best cattle, until for- 

 warded successively to Nos. 2 and 1. 



No. 4. For stores and sheep to follow the 

 other cattle ; then to be shut up until the grass 

 is again ready, as at No. 1, for the fattening 

 beasts. 



By this expedient the fattening cattle will 

 cull the choicest parts of the grass, and will 

 advance rapidly toward a state of maturity, for 

 they should always have a full bite of short 

 and sweet grass ; and with such cattle, the 

 greatest care should be taken not to overstock 

 the enclosures. It is also advisable to divide 

 the fattening enclosure by hurdles, so as to 

 confine the beasts within one half of it at a 

 time, and to allow them the other half at the 

 other, so that they may continually have fresh 

 pasture. 



Shade and pure water are essentially neces- 

 sary; and where there are no trees, rubbing- 

 posts should be set up to prevent the cattle 

 from making that use of the gates and fences. 

 In marsh land, which is chiefly divided by 

 dykes, this, indeed, should never be neglected, 

 as it is materially conducive to their comfort. 

 (Comp. Grazier, 6th edit. p. 74 ; Brit. Husb. vol. i. 

 p. 482, vol. ii. p. 368 ; Hillyartfs Farm, and Graz. 

 p. 117.) 



GREASE. In farriery, a disease incident to 

 horses or other cattle, consisting of a swelling 

 and inflammation of the legs. 



It is sometimes confined to the neighbour- 

 hood of the fetlocks ; at other times spreading 

 considerably further up the legs, and secreting 

 an oily matter, to which the disease is probably 

 indebted for its name. 



It is brought on by sudden changes from a 

 cold to a hot temperature ; such as removing 

 horses from grass into hot stables ; from hastily 

 substituting a generous after an impoverishing 

 diet; from the negligence of grooms in leaving 

 the heels wet and full of sand ; and from con- 

 stitutional debility. 



The farmer's horse is not so subject to grease 

 as many others, because he is not usually ex- 

 posed so much to sudden and extreme changes 

 of temperature, and the heels particularly are 

 not thus exposed. In many instances he lives 

 almost entirely out of doors, or, if he is stabled, 

 the stables of the small farmers are not always 

 air-tight. The wind finds its way through many 



